This invention relates to electronic musical instruments, where the various sounds or noises are produced by electronic means. The present invention is in the nature of a modification or improvement upon the construction disclosed in the present inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,960, granted Nov. 7, 1978, hereafter sometimes referred to as "the prior patent" or "the main patent."
The entire disclosure of said U.S. Pat. No. 4,123,960 is incorporated herein by reference, and the disclosure of the present application proceeds on the assumption that the reader is familiar with the disclosure of the prior patent, so that explanations and background information given in the prior patent need not be repeated here. It is emphasized, however, that as stated in the prior patent, the construction with which the present invention is concerned, like the construction of the prior patent, is concerned with the arrangement and mounting of the keys and other movable control units for operation by the player of the instrument, and is not concerned with the electronic circuitry or other electronic means for producing the sounds desired. In this connection, attention is directed especially to column 1 of the prior patent, lines 16-34, which apply equally to the present improved construction as to the basic patent.
The instrument has, in general, a console or desk-like structure having at least one and preferably two portions which may be called manuals, to be manipulated by the arm-hand-finger of the player, one manual being for the right hand and one for the left hand, if two are used. In the disclosure of this improved construction, details of only one manual are illustrated, for use by the right arm-hand-finger members of the player, it being understood that if a second manual is employed for use by the left arm-hand-finger members, this left manual will be a reverse duplicate or mirror-image duplicate of the right one.
In the use of the construction disclosed in the prior patent, it has been found in practice that the locations of some of the movable members are disadvantageous, and it is partly to correct the disadvantages which have become apparent, and partly to provide for improved control and movement that the present improved construction has been devised. In the present construction, the mechanical-electrical action converters are positioned for operation by the hand and fingers in such a way that as many different control signals as possible can be controlled synchronously.
It has turned out, from experience, that especially the main keys for the tone control, and the coupling plate (56 in the prior patent) for control of the medium volume of sound, and the turn-wing (43 in the prior patent) for the continuous or stepped control of the noise elements or sound making elements have disadvantages regarding their locational arrangement and mode of action in the construction disclosed in the prior patent. The present invention overcomes these disadvantages and improves the use of the action converters when playing. The term action converters is intended to refer to elements or mechanisms, such as electric switches or variable resistors, which produce an electrical or electronic response as a result of a mechanical movement.
According to the present invention, the main keys are mounted in rows on supporting bars which can be turned or tilted, and one or more action converters to be operated by the thumb of the player are mounted on the free end of an oscillating arm. The main keys with their bars serve mainly for control of the tone degrees, of the duration, of the muting, and further of the accent of the tone which is to be played. Two neighboring tone degrees of a tone scale are attached to (that is, controlled by) one main key, the main key being extended in the y-direction. These two tone degrees are controlled by the respective halves of the extended main key. The player can choose the desired tone degree by touching one end or the other of the main key.
When a main key is pressed at or near one end, the mounting bar on which this key is mounted will be turned or tilted in one direction on its tilt axis, which axis extends in the y-direction, toward and away from the player and perpendicular to the x-axis direction in which the keys are elongated. This will cause the production of a particular tone. If the player presses the same main key at or near its opposite end, this would turn or tilt the mounting bar on which the key is mounted in the opposite direction of tilt, and would produce a neighboring tone somewhat different from the one produced when the opposite end of the same key is pressed. In this way, the player can selectively produce slightly different tones from each of the main keys, depending upon which end of the key he chooses to press.
This turning or tilting action of the mounting bar, resulting from pressing one of the main keys at one side or the other side of the tilting axis of the bar, controls the group of tone degrees, the entry or input, and the accent. The accent of the tone, that is, its relative volume and/or timbre, is controlled through different pressures which are produced by the tipped bar against its stop block or limit member.
According to one feature of the invention, there are three tilting bars arranged side by side, each carrying a set of main keys, so that each of the three fingers of the hand of the player (forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger) can play on its own set of main keys, and may tip or tilt its set of main keys as desired. When the tempered tone scale is preferably used, the main keys on each one of these three bars may have the same tone degrees, and if this is done, it follows that any wanted tone degrees may be picked out alternatively by the forefinger, the middle finger, or the ring finger, every finger utilizing the keys on its own mounting bar. The multiple presence of tone degree renders possible advantageous fingering concerning the playing of single tone scales, tone repetition, and chords. Thus an important improvement in playing technique can be achieved.
Through the fact that the control of a group of tone degrees (left hand group or right hand group) and the control of the entry or production of the notes or sounds and of the accent is appropriated to a bar, a very simple and economical construction of the needed action converters is possible, because now it is not necessary to equip every main key with all of the different action converters for accomplishing all of these functions. Because the action converters for operation by the thumb are mounted on the end of the oscillating arm, it is guaranteed that the important action converters for operation by the thumb can be controlled without interruption even though the oscillating arm is moved. In the prior patent, the arrangement of the action converters on the console or trestle unit was such that the interval from one action converter to the other was permanently changed when the oscillating arm was moved upwardly and downwardly. That was found to be a great disadvantage when playing. That disadvantage is avoided in the improved construction of the present invention.